Improved railroad-rail



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

BENJAMIN F. FARRAB, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED RAILROAD-RAIL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 219,742, dated September 5, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. FARRAR, of Springlield, Hampden county, Commonwealth ot' Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Railroad-Rail and I do hereby declare that the following is a t'ull and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters ot' reference marked thereon.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan View; Fig. 2, a side elevation. Fig. 3 is an end view, and Fig. 4 a cross-section.

ln laying railroad-rails it is customary to leave a small space between their ends, and this is necessary, for it' laid close together, without any allowance for expansion and contraction, they would become jammed together and probably thrown ont of place, or else spread apart, and leave spaces, as mentioned. From this leaving a space between the rails arises several disadvantages, sonne of which I will now mention. First, the rails become worn and battered on the ends, while they may be in a sound condition elsewhere, and it is a wellknown fact that the taking up, rewelding, and relaying such rails constitutes one of the heaviest items of expense in running railroads; and aside from the rails the injury to the engine and ears, caused by the jolt and jar occasioned by the wheels striking these ends, is very great, often resulting in the breakage of the working parts, as well as great strain on bolts, rods, &c.

It is evident that any invention which overcomes these disadvantages must be of great use. I have accomplished this in a simple and economical manner, as I will now describe.

My inventionconsistsininterposingbetween the ends ot the rails a wedge-shaped piece of metal, A, and in cutting oft' the end of the rail a. a at the same angle as the side of the wedge, this angle being such that the force of eXpansion, causing the ends to press together, may force out the wedge in vthe direction indicated by the arrow, and when the rail contracts, the springs B B may press it in the other direction, so that the space between the rails is kept continually lled.

It. will be seen that in this simple manner I accomplish all that I iirst mentioned-namely, illing up the space between the rails in such a manner that they are allowed to expand and contract, while at the same time the space is always filled, so that the ends cannot become battered.

I do not wish to limit my invention to the exact arrangement herein described, for the springs B B may be attached either to the piece A and the ends a a of the rails,as here shown, or to this piece and the chair D, or in any other desired manner; but

What I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the rails a a', piece A, spring or springs B, and chair D, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

BENJAMIN F. FARRAR.

Witnesses:

J. B. GARDINER, W. D. STEVENS. 

